Synthetic rubber mends itself after being sliced

Self-healing materials are far from revolutionary, but a team of gurus at France's National Center for Scientific Research has teamed up with Arkema to create a newfangled material that can literally reattach itself if simply pressed together after a break. Reportedly, the self-mending takes place due to weak hydrogen bonds that mesh networks of ditopic and tritopic molecules back together, essentially acting as a kind of "atomic glue." The matter is able to reconnect with any long lost pieces at room temperature (at least 68°F), and apparently, creators are already looking to commercialize their discovery and get products on the shelves within two years. So much for breakaway cables, eh?

[Via Physorg]

[Tim @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:02PM]

trojan man!

[Dr Chaos @ Feb 22nd 2008 5:01PM]

you sir, win the intarwebz

[mattclarkie @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:02PM]

I knew I was under-surveillance. I was working on this in my cellar for years, but now those sneaky frogs have stolen my invention.

How will I Bounce Back from this....

[makishima @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:54PM]

Thats apples and oranges asshat. Of course we want to know what the weather will be tomorrow. And if this product was coming to store shelves tomorrow, maybe engadget being off a few days would matter. But thats hardly the case is it? Please go back to wherever you came from, no one is buying what your selling.

[makishima @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:55PM]

sorry >< that was ment to be a responce to this
soviet_vexxer @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:47PM

so you think it would be ok to turn on the news and hear, " three days ago the weather was sunny" as opposed to what it will be like today or tomorrow.

[soviet_vexxer @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:03PM]

wow this is old news. it seems like every post on here lately was on gizmodo 3 days ago.

[The General @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:14PM]

Prepare to have your comment deleted for mentioning the evil G word.

[makishima @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:17PM]

It also seems like the net has yet to allow me a single day that I can read engadget without some moron posting "I saw this X days ago on *insert tech site here*. You guys are really behind" Do you really think we care at all that you already read about this? We didn't. And if we had, we would have to common sense enough not to be an ass about it and try to flaunt our amazing e-peen around the room and make ourselves feel better about still being a virgin. Now run along up stairs, I think your mom is calling you out of the basement.

[Jon Doe. @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:19PM]

And Engadget shouldn't post it why? Anyways I don't visit asshat sites that allow their people to act like asshats while at CES. Dick.

[soviet_vexxer @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:47PM]

so you think it would be ok to turn on the news and hear, " three days ago the weather was sunny" as opposed to what it will be like today or tomorrow.

[Wyze @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:51PM]

well...the difference is that three days ago till now this news has not changed.....has the weather?....again your nickles are showing...or lack thereof....weather isn't news anyway....who doesn't have the ability to go/look outside and see what the weather is? besides what are you going to do when they say the same forcast on the other channels?.....scary isn't it....try another analogy

[Aguiluz @ Feb 22nd 2008 3:47PM]

Hmph!

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=Gizmodo&word2=Engadget

Owned.

[Joe Anstine @ Feb 22nd 2008 7:06PM]

why are you even registered on this site if you're going to just sit there and be like, oh, I saw this x days ago somewhere else. Oh, and being pale from lack of sunlight is really not a good look.

[Reid @ Feb 23rd 2008 12:44AM]

Geez engadget, you're way behind the times.

My friend Pierre was working on this over in Paris, and even though he's under NDA, he told me about it a whole month ago in a super-secret conversation. You're so behind, why even bother reporting it a month late?

[m4xn00b @ Feb 23rd 2008 9:47PM]

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=googlefight&word2=waste+of+time

...

[Shadowfox952 @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:20PM]

Could prevent breaking condoms if it doesn''t accidentally reattach to wrong place.

[makishima @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:23PM]

heh yeah theres something inherently disturbing about wrapping it up in something described as "atomic glue."

[DT @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:22PM]

Self-repairing robot skin. Thanks a lot, guys. Prepare to be hunted down by Sarah Connor.

[MikeLong @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:23PM]

68F?

Too bad I try to keep my apartment at a frigid 65 year round.

[ethana2 @ Feb 22nd 2008 3:20PM]

Farenheit?
Don't use AS, and don't use farenheit. They need to die. So what they really mean is:
20 C
thanks

~an american with his head on straight

[MikeLong @ Feb 22nd 2008 3:43PM]

Wow...

[Laura @ Feb 22nd 2008 7:16PM]

@ ethana2:

the first american i've heard who uses celsius. congrats! fahrenheit is so out-dated.

[Philster @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:25PM]

"Living tissue over hyper-alloy endoskeleton"

?!

[andrew @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:30PM]

Part of it is made from urine....leave it to the french to make something out of piss and turn a profit.

[ethana2 @ Feb 22nd 2008 3:21PM]

If this is true, you are hilarious. ^_^

[obiwan @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:22PM]

I hate that you beat me to the mention of this. Grrrr. Of course, I am ashamed of Engadget for failing to mention it. Grrrr.
It's made from peeeeeeeee!

[Adam @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:30PM]

i bet it won't blend.

[Tim @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:51PM]

brilliant.

[votes up]

[Adam @ Feb 22nd 2008 9:26PM]

:-D

[Wyze @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:34PM]

That comment was about as dumb as a bag of nickles...I can imagine u watching CNN and wondering why they are running the same story as Fox News or your local news merchants....I actually prefer to read my "news" whenever engadget sees fit to print it....it's not just news....it's interactive information over here.....

[bob sakamano @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:35PM]

is this really a gadget?

[Jesse @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:36PM]

God did that with skin eons ago

[makishima @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:44PM]

Yeah but in the words of Mr Samuel Jackson "The only problem is *hot wires car in 2 seconds*, it takes to f*!@ing long" Also, this is engadget, please leave your religious bias at the door when you come in next time.

[Stevo @ Feb 22nd 2008 3:28PM]

AMEN!

[Stevo @ Feb 22nd 2008 3:30PM]

Leave religion at the door? Uh... freedom of speech(and religion)? I am a Christian no matter where I go.

[x Shmahh @ Feb 22nd 2008 5:06PM]

even if i was a thiest, i would admit to this being better, as the repair times seem nigh instantaneous... fortunately im an athiest, however, and I find competing with what I consider to be a non-entity to be largely redundant :-)

[Jesse @ Feb 23rd 2008 1:00AM]

in the words of David Cross "its what's referred to as a joke..."

[Lewi @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:38PM]

Am I missing something? what would this be useful for?

[Wyze @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:44PM]

so you're saying that YOUR T1000 never needs repairs?

[Wyze @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:51PM]

so you're saying that YOUR T1000 never needs repairs?

[Lewi @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:45PM]

teehee. no!

[Henry @ Feb 22nd 2008 4:09PM]

tires that stop slow leaks.

[mattclarkie @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:48PM]

Just becaues TTSCC has started, and a new film is on the way doesn't mean you can nerd out on Terminator references.

And I keep my T1000 spotless.

[Fred @ Feb 22nd 2008 5:18PM]

Isn't this the rubber that's made out of piss? I seem to recall reading about this the other day but that it was made with urine. No thanks.

[Grey Acumen @ Feb 22nd 2008 6:10PM]

y'know, I'm amazed no one has asked this, but how resilient is the material to begin with?

"oh sure, it can patch itself back together easier than anything, course, it sure as hell better with how often it falls apart..."

[techieguru16 @ Feb 22nd 2008 6:27PM]

this would be great for rubber medical gloves. (u know, the kind that u inflate and then drop it in a toilet?) =)

[Kyle @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:12PM]

Is this stuff cheap to produce? If so, if this stuff were to be mademore dense, it could serve as a "permanent" road surface. No more potholes or cracks on interstate highways. Unless the sun bakes thisstuff or the water makes it slimy, that would suck...

[KR @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:19PM]

Hasn't Silly Putty been able to do this for years?

[Galley @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:51PM]

Not as impressive as the self-healing metal from the Roswell crash.

[James Ollier @ Feb 23rd 2008 8:09AM]

Will it blend, that is the question!